Skip to main content

The Cruise Industry

I heard a podcast the other day about the cruise industry that was quite shocking. It told the grim tale about how 2020 had essentially gutted the cruise season and shut the whole industry down for months. That is that COVID SHUT the WHOLE industry down for the rest of the year. In that cast I learned that each company makes money by the boatload (LITERALLY). They have seasons where they make billions and so, like Joseph in Egypt during the years of plenty, they do what the interviewer stated as, “stocking their war chests”. 

The cruise ship industry seems like such a romantic way to make a living but it has its pitfalls. One of those was brought to light last year when without notice the companies received word from host countries that they were no longer to accept any passengers. Did you know that each of those big babies has 1,000 workers and crew aboard? That is a lot of people even without guests. So, the dilemma that was caused was that they had to figure out how to get those crewmembers home. They are not all U.S. based. In fact they come from all over the world. HERE is a link to an article similar to the one I heard in a podcast. 

Thinking of rough ship rides you should read Acts chapter 27 and 28 for an interesting seafaring story. That is what these chapters are about. It is Paul’s journey from Caesarea Philippi to Rome. It is quite a tale and only lacks pirates to top off the excitement. 

Why did Luke put these chapters in his account? Of course the answer is that it was a part of Paul's life journey. Stuff like this happens when you are a missionary! At least in some missionaries' lives. 

Paul was a prisoner during his Mediterranean cruise and he was headed to his final destination. He would go through rough waters to get there. He tried to give advice to the captain and owner of the ship but they didn't listen and lost their livelihood. 

At the island where they ran a ground Paul was gathering sticks to put on a fire that had been lit to warm the castaways. As he did a snake lurched and sunk its fangs into Paul's hand. Paul shook the critter off into the fire and kept on working. 

The islanders thought that the gods of the sea were getting justice and waited for Paul to drop dead. When he didn't these people changed their minds and said that he was a god! 

This account highlights the end of Paul's story but it heralds the way for Paul's epistles. Read it and marvel at God's protective care. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Twenty Buck Challenge

Well I went and done it! That's bad grammar I know. But I done it anyway. We've been having a Bible study with Esmano and Genesie and their two kids Jennifer and Jadson, for about seven weeks now. This week Jennifer threw out a challenge. "Let's memorize a verse!" I thought that was a great idea. I told them that if they did memorize the verse that I would give them each an American coin. Esmano, their dad usually sits in on the study but he hasn't really been a part of it. When I mentioned the coin idea his eyes lit up a little. I then reached into my wallet and said, "If YOU memorize that verse I'll give you $20 bucks! His eyes really lit up then! Was it a good idea? I doubt it. No one has ever offered me money for memorizing verses. However, this will be the first verse that this man has ever memorized. If he does it. It is not a conventional way of doing memory work and it could cost me a bill for nothing. But if God uses this simple chall...
3 comments
Read more

What About the Property?

Some of you have been asking about the land purchase. In fact I got a note from my friend Tom asking about it just this morning. So, I decided to respond to Tom's question and send the note to everyone on my list.  Tom Funny that you should ask about the property. We talked about it last night in our team meeting. We see three options.  We could buy a piece of land near the neighborhood and build.  We could buy a couple of houses that are side by side and remodel or  We could buy just one house and expand as we grow.  We have R$37,000 ($22,000) available to choose our option. We decided last night to pray and ask God for specific guidance as we proceed. We plan to talk to a man next week about option one . There is a huge piece of property next to our neighborhood and we will be asking him to sell us a 600 meter square piece. If he does we will have our land but no money for construction. If the man say, "No" we will consider that God is closin...
4 comments
Read more

If this is the kingdom of God, do I really want it?

If this is Kingdom Living, Do I Want it? Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. In a study of the Sermon on the Mount to this point we might be tempted to say, “I don’t want to be that happy!” If this is Kingdom living then I want to go to Disney World. This place is depressing.  What Jesus describes here seems to highlight all of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more